Quoth the Raven....

Gotham University Library, Sunday afternoon (Reply)

Raven had fallen into the habit of going to the university library on Sundays, a hold-over from her time in Fandom. It was quiet and mostly empty then, and it let her focus on her school work. (And occasionally browse for any new Rumor Gal fanfic.) She'd been working on a paper for one of her classes when the laptop screen abruptly turned blue and flashed some sort of cryptic error message. "No, no," she said, at a loss at what to do. She'd grown comfortable using the laptop over the years, but she didn't know much about troubleshooting.

"Hey, babe, what's wrong?" a familiar voice said. Eric Forrester dropped himself in the seat beside her and laid his arm along the back of her chair.

"Hello, Eric," Raven said, glancing over to him before returning her frustrated gaze to her computer. "Something has happened to my laptop. I am worried now that I have lost all the work I have done in the past hour."

"No sweat, gorgeous," Eric said. "Let me take care of this." He pulled the laptop toward himself and hovered his hands over the keys. After a moment he pressed a few, and the screen returned to normal. For a moment Raven could've sworn she saw a faint green glow around his hands, but she dismissed it as a trick of the afternoon light filtering through the library windows.

"There you go," Eric said. "Good as new."

Raven quickly saved her paper and smiled at him. "Thank you," she said. "I am very grateful for your help. It would have been annoying to have to do the work twice."

"How about you and me going out?" Eric said, leaning in toward her and dropping one hand on her knee.

As a touchy-feely empath who routinely had to struggle with the concept of personal space, Raven didn't mind much Eric's touching her, but she did stiffen a little at his words. "I am flattered that you ask," she said, staring down at her lap. "But I must be honest with you. If it is some sort of romantic relationship you are pursuing, I am afraid I am not interested in such things."

"Whoa, way to shoot a guy down before he even starts trying," Eric said. "What's the matter? Some guy break your heart or something?"

"Something like that," Raven said, folding her hands together in her lap. She'd done her best not to think about it at all in the months since she'd left Fandom, and the memories were unwelcome.

"Guy must have been a real jerk to dump somebody at hot as you," Eric said.

"You do not know him or what occurred between us," Raven said, feeling a little burst of defensiveness. "It is not your place to judge, Eric. Please, I do not wish to talk about it."

"What better way to forget about him than to go out with me?" Eric pressed, squeezing her leg. "Trust me, one night with me, and you won't remember anything about him."

Raven shook her head. She was actually becoming uncomfortable, and she shifted in her chair to move out of his reach. "Eric, as I said I am very flattered, but I am sorry, I do not seek anything more than friendship."

Eric settled back in his chair as if he sensed her discomfort. "Okay, dinner as friends then," he said. "C'mon, let me repay you for loaning me your notes. I owe you for that."

It was on the tip of Raven's tongue to politely refuse again, but instead, for no reason she could really explain, she decided to accept the offer. "Dinner as friends would be nice," she said. She lifted her gaze and looked at Eric. "You are always sitting in class with pretty girls," she said. "Why are you suddenly interested in me?"

"Are you kidding?" Eric said. "You are hot, babe. And you're smart, too. You always know the right answer when the teacher calls on you. How could I not be interested?"

Raven couldn't hold back a little smile at that as she felt a swell of pride. "And are you this shameless with flattery with the other girls?" she said.

Eric grinned and shrugged. "Hey, they're fun, but you...there's something different about you. Something special. I can feel it."

Blushing as she closed her laptop and slipped it into her bag, Raven couldn't deny that his words made her feel good. "I will see you in class tomorrow," she said. "And...then Thursday."

Eric took her hand and brought it up to his lips and kissed it. "It's a date, babe."

Raven shook her head slightly as she reclaimed her hand. "It is not a date," she reminded him gently.

"Whatever you say, gorgeous," Eric said. "Whatever you say."

[Establishy but open for text/phone calls/anyone who happens to be on the Gotham U campus.]